Study: Doctors-in-training not prepared to recommend MMJ

Without doctors who are properly educated on how to recommend medical cannabis, business owners in states with MMJ programs could face bottlenecks in getting product to customers.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis surveyed 258 medical residents and fellows across the country and found that nine out of 10 aspiring physicians believe they are inadequately prepared to recommend MMJ as a treatment, HealthDay News reported.

The news outlet also found that the Association of Medical Colleges database showed only 9% of medical schools had medical marijuana on the curriculum.

Another survey – of curriculum deans at 101 medical schools – concluded that over two-thirds of graduates weren’t prepared to recommend medical marijuana and one-fourth couldn’t answer questions about MMJ.

5 comments on “Study: Doctors-in-training not prepared to recommend MMJ”

Medical schools only includes FOUR HOURS of mandated training on chronic pain and pain management. Yet, more people suffer from chronic pain than most other conditions – and we have an opioid epidemic on our hands. Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually started educating to prevent problems, instead of losing millions of lives and wasting enormous amounts of money to treat the problems that occur from not educating? Time for a wake up call and a mandate of physician training on cannabis as medicine.

We are the ones to teach about the medicine side of pot to doctors. I told both my G.P. and my Endocrinologist (type one diabetic since 1967). My neuropathy led me to use pot for pain. I’m glad I told my MD’s. I want everyone to find it ‘normal’ to talk about cannabis to their doctors

The Society of Cannabis Clinicians (SCC) is an educational and scientific society of physicians and other health professionals dedicated to the promotion, protection and support of cannabis for medical use. The goals of the Society include:
• Expansion of knowledge on the medical use of cannabis?
• Facilitation of best practice standards for cannabis consultations
?• To study, discuss and make recommendations relating to research, practice and policy in the medical use of cannabis
• To maintain and advance the highest ideals and service standards in the education, practice and research in the medical use of cannabis

SCC founder Tod Mikuriya, MD, provided the medical input to develop Health & Safety Code 11362.5 (The “Compassionate Use Act of 1996”). Since 2003, the SCC has sponsored the publication of O’Shaughnessy’s, The Journal of Cannabis in Clinical Practice In 2014 the SCC developed the first accredited online CME program devoted to clinical cannabinoid medicine. (The Society of Cannabis Clinicians (SCC) is an educational and scientific society of physicians and other health professionals dedicated to the promotion, protection and support of cannabis for medical use. The goals of the Society include:
• Expansion of knowledge on the medical use of cannabis
?• Facilitation of best practice standards for cannabis consultations?
• To study, discuss and make recommendations relating to research, practice and policy in the medical use of cannabis
• To maintain and advance the highest ideals and service standards in the education, practice and research in the medical use of cannabis

SCC founder, Tod Mikuriya, MD, provided the medical input to develop Health & Safety Code 11362.5 (The “Compassionate Use Act of 1996”). Since 2003, the SCC has sponsored the publication of O’Shaughnessy’s, The Journal of Cannabis in Clinical Practice. In 2014 the SCC developed the first accredited online CME program devoted to clinical cannabinoid medicine.
(http://cannabisclinicians.org/medical-cannabis-continuing-education-cme-course/)

Today the SCC represents over 270 physicians in 24 states, five countries, on three continents, with an accumulated experience of several thousand patient-years dealing with medicinal cannabis. SCC members have monitored cannabis use by hundreds of thousands treating a wide variety of medical conditions.